WINTER WEATHER ADVISORIES

WINTER WEATHER ADVISORIESremain for all of West Michigan until 8 PM. The expiration time is 4 PM in Berrien, Cass, St. Joe, and Branch counties. 1" to 3" of snow followed by freezing rain has left some roads slippery. Areas of light snow and freezing drizzle won't do our roads any favors through sunset. Please be careful traveling during your evening commute and beyond!

Mich. Senate prepares to vote on Medicaid expansion

Updated: Thursday, August 22, 2013

KALAMAZOO, Mich. (NEWSCHANNEL 3) - Five days from now--next Tuesday--the Michigan Senate will vote on expanding Medicaid to offer health insurance to some 470,000 state residents--most of them from working families who hover just above the poverty line.

Tonight, in Tom's Corner, Tom Van Howe says anything but a 'yes' vote means the people we've elected to office are more concerned with petty politics than the health and welfare of the people they represent.

=====================

There are lots of people who don't like Obamacare. I get it. Its confusing. Its got thousands of pages that few will ever read or fully understand. It focuses on how we're going to pay instead of why everything costs so much. And as a result many of us worry about where all the money is going to come from.

But there are nearly a half-million well-intentioned people in our state who don't have health care. Usually because their employers don't offer it, and always because they can't afford it on their own.

As a result, when they get sick they wind up going to absurdly expensive hospital emergency rooms for medical care. Think about it. A single bill from a single visit to an ER is likely to be more than a month's rent.

They are bills that are most likely not going to be paid.

Why not?

Because in this country we offer the most expensive health care in the world and those individuals and families simply can't afford to pay them. If they aren't part of an insurance plan, in a classic of upside-down logic, they usually get charged even more.

And it isn't as though all these costs just magically disappear. In one way or another, they do get paid.

But they get paid by businesses, taxpayers, and people who do have health care. The same people who see their premiums rise by double digits each and every year.

Hospitals, who provide just short of a billion dollars worth of indigent health care a year, absorb some of it, but do their best also to pass it on to paying customers.

And did I mention that roughly 65 percent of all bankruptcies in this country are healthcare related?

So along comes the federal government to say to states, 'Tell you what...if you expand your Medicaid coverage to include those who live just above the poverty line (the ones we're talking about here) we'll pick up the cost—all of it—for the next four years. After that we'll pick up 90 percent of it.

Sounds like a no-brainer.

But here's the rub. It's part of the Affordable Care Act—the dreaded Obamacare. And in a number of states where there are Republican-dominated governments, Michigan among them, to accept medicaid expansion is to somehow endorse and give victory to President Obama himself.

A political position that does little for the 15,000 in kalamazoo county who pray they don't get sick.

It's a position that has outraged Governor Snyder—who to his credit has been out campaigning for it.

He says, matter-of-factly, whether you like Obamacare or not, it is the law of the land, and that with each day that goes by, Michigan is losing money.

His colleague, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, who faced the same problem, is one of the few Republican Governors in the country who successfully lobbied for extended medicare.

"Let me be clear," he said. "I am no fan of the Affordable Care Act. I think it is wrong for New Jersey and for America.

I fought against it and believe in the long run it will not achieve what it promises. However—it is the law of the land.

I will make all my judgments as Governor based on what is best for New Jersey."

Gov. Snyder is essentially making the same argument. And its time for the Senate to put away its petty ideological differences, listen to what he's saying, and get on board.

Five more days.

In this corner...I'm Tom Van Howe.

Top Stories

UPDATED:Tuesday, March 3, 2015
ALLEGAN COUNTY, Mich. (NEWSCHANNEL 3) - Authorities have shut down southbound US-131 in Allegan County for a crash. It happened around noon Tuesday near the Shelbyville Exit. Southbound traffic is being routed off the freeway at Shelbyville and then back

Business News

WIRELESS SHOW-GOOGLE

Google wants more people to get online so they can search around and click on its ads. And it's shaking up the telecom world to do it. The company said Monday at the wireless show in Barcelona, Spain, that it will soon sell data plans for smartphones and tablets in the U.S. The announcement confirmed leaks and media reports in late January that Google planned to enter the telecom market.

Sundar Pichai, Google Inc.'s senior vice president of products, said during his presentation that more information would be provided in the coming months.

The move into the wireless market mirrors what Google has been trying to do for hard-wired Internet access at home. The Mountain View, California, company currently sells an ultra-fast fiber-optic Internet service in a handful of markets scattered across the U.S. in an attempt to pressure long-established broadband providers to improve their service and cut their prices.

Google conceivably do something similar for wireless by offering discounted data plans that would pressure major carriers such as AT&T Inc. and Verizon Communications to offer better deals and services or risk losing customers to a powerful rival.

CONGRESS-HEALTH CARE

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Congressional Republicans are sending a message that they hope the Supreme Court and voters will hear: The country's health care system won't crumble if the justices obliterate a bedrock feature of President Barack Obama's heath care law.

Three top senators say that if the court invalidates federal subsidies that help millions of Americans buy coverage under Obama's law, they have a plan to protect them and create "better" insurance markets by giving states more leeway to decide what insurers must cover.

But an opinion article in Monday's Washington Post by GOP Sens. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, John Barrasso of Wyoming and Orrin Hatch of Utah offered very few details. It said nothing about how much assistance they would provide, its duration or how they would pay for it.

AIRLINERS-BATTERY FIRES

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Citing safety concerns, United Airlines says it will no longer accept bulk shipments of rechargeable lithium batteries of the kind that power everything from smartphones to laptops to power tools.

United is the second major U.S. airline to decide it will no longer accept lithium-ion battery shipments. Delta Air Lines stopped accepting the bulk shipments last month.

It's not uncommon for tens of thousands of the batteries to be shipped in a single cargo container aboard a passenger airliner on an international flight.

Federal Aviation Administration tests over the past year show that when a single battery overheats it can result in a chain reaction, causing other batteries to short circuit and overheat. As they overheat, the batteries emit explosive gases. Several tests have resulted in fierce explosions and fires.

FAA-CYBERSECURITY

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A government watchdog is warning that cybersecurity weaknesses could lead to disruptions and undermine the safety of the nation's air traffic control system.

The Government Accountability Office says the Federal Aviation Administration has taken steps to protect the air traffic system from cyber-based threats, but that, quote, "significant security control weaknesses remain."

One area of weaknesses is the ability to prevent and detect unauthorized access to the vast network of computer and communications systems the FAA uses to process and track flights around the world.

There also are inadequate protections to prevent entry into air traffic computer systems from other, less-secure computer systems not directly involved in traffic operations.

The FAA said it is aware of the importance of the matter and has achieved several milestones in improving its cybersecurity.

GENEVA AUTO SHOW-VOLKSWAGEN

GENEVA (AP) -- The CEO of Volkswagen AG is staying with his cautious outlook for this year.

Martin Winterkorn tells The Associated Press that it's a "balanced statement" based on growth in the U.S., Europe and China versus trouble spots such as Russia and Brazil.

Winterkorn calls it a solid assessment, saying "I think it's quite a good assessment, as usual we at Volkswagen do not want to lose touch with reality despite all the successes."

As it announced increased profits for last year Volkswagen last week cautioned that 2015 could be a turbulent year. It predicted increased sales but said there was no guarantee of a successful year for the company or the industry as a whole.

Russia's economy appears headed for recession this year after the ruble plunged in value. The conflict between Russia and Ukraine has also unsettled business confidence in Eastern Europe.

A slew of U.S. auto sales figures for February will be released in Detroit later today.

MINE EXPLOSION-INVESTIGATION

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) -- A lawyer for media organizations says a gag order in the criminal case of the West Virginia coal mine explosion that killed 29 men violates the First Amendment by barring virtually anyone from discussing it publicly.

David Schulz has told a three-judge panel of the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia, that some victims' relatives believe the sweeping gag order also prohibits them from testifying before lawmakers and regulators.

U.S. District Judge Irene Berger's gag order was imposed in January when she said it was needed to protect former Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship's right to a fair trial.

Blankenship was the head of the company when the Upper Big Branch Mine exploded in 2010. He's charged with conspiring to violate safety and health standards.

Schultz argued Monday that "the public has a right and a need to know that justice is being done fairly."

The panel didn't indicate when it would rule.

TREASURY BILLS

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Interest rates on short-term Treasury bills were mixed in yesterday's auction, with rates on six-month bills rising while rates on three-month bills dipped to their lowest level since mid-October.

The Treasury Department auctioned $26 billion in three-month bills at a discount rate of 0.015 percent, down from 0.020 percent last week. Another $26 billion in six-month bills was auctioned at a discount rate of 0.075 percent, up from 0.065 percent last week.

The three-month rate was the lowest since three-month bills averaged 0.010 percent on Oct. 14. The six-month rate was the highest since those bills averaged 0.085 percent on Feb. 9.

The discount rates reflect that the bills sell for less than face value. For a $10,000 bill, the three-month price was $9,999.62, while a six-month bill sold for $9,996.21. That would equal an annualized rate of 0.015 percent for the three-month bills and 0.076 percent for the six-month bills.

GREECE-BAILOUT

MADRID (AP) -- Spain created hours of confusion over the future of Greece's troubled finances yesterday. First, it announced that eurozone nations were negotiating a third Greek bailout of up to 50 billion euros ($56 billion). But then, Madrid backtracked and said that the prospect of such a bailout was merely hypothetical.

The high profile sequence of events began when Spain's Economy Ministry said that Minister Luis de Guindos had declared at a conference that a new bailout for Greece could provide between 30 billion euros and 50 billion euros.

In comments circulated by the ministry to media outlets, de Guindos said that a "central scenario for Greece is a deal on the basis of the current bailout, and new conditions to be set with flexibility." Those remarks clearly stated that a round of negotiations were underway for a third Greek bailout.

FDA-NEW LEADERSHIP

WASHINGTON (AP) -- One of the nation's leading medical researchers has joined the Food and Drug Administration, taking on the agency's No. 2 leadership job at a critical juncture for prescription drugs, medical devices and tobacco products.

Dr. Robert Califf comes to the job of FDA deputy commissioner after more than 30 years as a researcher and administrator at Duke University. But the 63-year-old Califf is no stranger to FDA issues. For years he served on committees that advise the agency on scientific and medical matters. And he was considered for the FDA's top job at least twice, under the administrations of Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama.

The timing of his appointment has raised speculation that he may eventually be nominated to lead the agency. The week after announcing Califf's new position, FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg said she would be leaving the agency after nearly six years on the job. Currently, the FDA's chief scientist is serving as acting head of the agency.

A leading expert in cardiology and medical study design, Califf is viewed by FDA watchers as a natural fit for the job.

COSTCO-CREDIT CARD

NEW YORK (AP) -- If you're shopping at Costco, you'll need a new credit card to pay for those family-sized packs of chicken breasts or toilet paper.

After accepting only American Express cards for the last 16 years, the retailer is switching to Visa and will use Citigroup as its exclusive provider of co-branded credit cards.

Costco is a large and influential chain. It is the world's second-largest retailer by revenue, and has 671 locations around the world, including 474 in the U.S. and Puerto Rico. For an annual fee of $55 to $110, shoppers get access to groceries in bulk sizes, as well as appliances, jewelry, home goods and other products.

The switch from AmEx to Visa could mean changes for some of those customers. For example, Costco will accept only Visa credit cards at its stores starting April 1. Customers will also be able to use Visa and MasterCard debit cards, or pay in cash. American Express cards will no longer be accepted on that date.